Happy New Year readers! Glad to be back after the holidays and reporting on the NFL again. Looks like the dust has finally settled and we now know who is going to face whom in the first round of this year’s playoffs! But before we talk about that, let’s have a look back at the final week that was in the NFL…

Onto the Top Ten!

Number 10

Well, it looks as though George Seifert has worn out his welcome in Carolina, and after going 16-32 in 4 years, has received the proverbial boot out the stadium door. Too bad for Seifert, but I will not take pity on him for the job he did in Carolina (15 losses in a row? Are you kidding me? Ever hear of “win one for the gipper”?), which was well short of the one he did in San Francisco. Looks like George wasn’t quite the genius that the Panthers’ owners thought he was, in fact, all those rumors about George inheriting a championship team and having little to do with the SuperBowl wins, may just have an ounce of truth to them.

By the way, you want to know what the funniest thing about Seifert’s firing was? How Seifert said in his statement that the Carolina job was great and that “guys should be beating down the door to get in here”. Yeeeeahhhhh, O-K George, whatever you say. How much do you want to bet that the Panthers threw in an extra set of Panthers stationary for Seifert to throw out that line of bull? That was truly great unintentional comedy.

Number 9

How about those non-playoff teams who finished strong this year? The Bengals won their last two to salvage a much better season than anyone had hoped for, and the Colts won their last game with a spirited defensive effort that came 10 games too late.

Here is what I think about those two teams:

Cincy? Well, I have to say that these guys are a good QB and a few lucky breaks from being a legitimate wildcard team. I’m telling you, all a young team needs is some solid play and a few lucky breaks to start believing in themselves (case in point: The Niners) and when young, confident players get on a roll, it is truly a sight to see. I think people take for granted confidence in this league, and replace it with experience or athleticism. I think that once a band of average players starts believing in themselves and overachieving more than anyone thought they would, it is one of the most inspiring thing in sports. (OK, enough commentary)

Indy? Well, I am losing faith in one Payton Manning recently, and I doubt his ability to take his team to the next level. I guess I have to factor in the fact that their defense had more holes than fishnet stockings, they tackled like a bunch of 7th graders, Edgerrin James went down for the season, and Payton busted his jaw – Joe Glass style.

(Remember Joe Glass? He was the first opponent in the Nintendo game “Mike Tyson’s Punchout!” Later renamed simply “Punchout!” after Tyson went to the clink. He was the guy who had the glass jaw and you could take him out with a few stiff rights to the map. That was a great game too.)

Number 8

How about Detroit also going out on a high note? Mustering that elusive 2nd win at the hands of the mighty Dallas Cowboys? Good stuff Lions, now I am eager to see what you do with that 2nd or 3rd draft choice (maybe you could offer it to Barry Sanders to come back?), but I would like to see them stick with Mike McMahon at the helm, because he looked really good near the end of the season and I think he will only continue to improve (save a few growing pains of course). Besides, how can you not go with a guy who comes from Rutgers?

Also in that match up we saw Dallas go down again, much to the chagrin of old Emmitt Smith, no doubt. But here is the best part (or worst part, if you are a Cowboys fan), Jerry Jones has stated that with Quincy Carter’s improved play late in the season, he will NOT be going out and looking for a QB in the offseason. There, do all you Cowboy fans feel better now? Just think, you are going to come into training camp with Quincy “I should still be in college” Carter and Ryan “I should still be in grade school, cause I act like it” Leaf as your two QB’s. Things are bad in Big D, real bad.

Number 7

OK, I have to ask. What is with the token “Caucasian Insane-Run-Like-I-Have-Just-Been-Set-On-Fire Kick Returners” in this league? Think about it, we have these crazies bringing back punts and kickoffs. The three that come to mind (and they may be the only three, but it seems like every team has one) are Jeff Ogden, Tim Dwight and Vinny Sutherland. These cats run so hard during every return you would swear you could hear “Ru-un Forrest! Ru-un!” in the background. I think these guys have carved out their own little niches in this league, and although they’re doomed to have a short-lived NFL career (kick returners usually do, unless your name is Metcalfe or Brian Mitchell), they will still have something to tell their grandkids about.

Also, along with the kick returners, what is the deal with the token “Sure-Handed-Caucasian-Possesion-Receiver” that is going on also? Guys like Jurevicous, Shroeder, Chrebet, Finneran and Ricky Proehl set the standard for this role. I don’t know what the deal with that is, but it seems that we are seeing more and more teams copycat eachother these days.

“They had success with this type of player, so why can’t we?”

I guess it is true what they say, that nothing in this game is original.

Number 6

I was genuinely excited for the Bucs / Eagles game Sunday night, because I knew that they would have to face off again the following week. I expected to see a hard fought game where each team wanted to send a message to the other, but instead I got a game where the only message was “OK, this game doesn’t matter really, so all you scout team dudes… get ready to play, on national television”. Instead of McNabb to Thrash we got Feeley to Douglas.

Feeley to Douglas?

Instead of Johnson to Johnson, we got Shaun King to… well… nobody really.

(Almost the entire Bucs team had one of King’s completions, I think even Dungy caught 1 for 7yds)

That was really a brutal way to end off the Sunday Night Football season, I think. And even though the announcers tried and tried to play it up as much as they could, in a vain effort to keep it interesting, the world knew that this game was going to be a conservative-let’s not get injured stinker. And it was.

Number 5

Tough luck for the Seahawks, getting bumped out of the playoffs with that MNF Baltimore win, but I think that will do them good, it will only make them hungry to get back. However, with the Seahawks joining the NFC West next season, it may be more difficult than they would like.

But I want to know when will the NFL realize that Trent Dilfer is an untapped resource just waiting to win games for someone, anyone? Dilfer is 20-1 in his last 21starts, and although that is with three teams, it makes that feat no less impressive. 20-1!!! Those are Brett Favre stats, Steve Young or Joe Montana even. But instead, Dilfer remains the QB that nobody wants to give the starting job to, which is evident by his only getting in there with a Matt Hasselbeck injury in Seattle. I wonder when someone is going to give him a chance and see how far he can take them. (Cincinnati Bengals? Are you listening to this? No team needs a low mistake, just win games QB like the Bengals)

Trust me on this one people, Dilfer is going to do something good in this league before his time is up. And although it may just be as a role playing QB on another winning team, it will still be great compared to what some QB’s (Ahem! Scott Mitchell, Jon Kitna, Akili Smith) have done in this league.

Number 4

In addition to that Sunday Night Stinker we also had some Monday Night Monotony, where the only interesting storyline was whether or not the Ravens were going to be able to win their way into the playoffs. So you would expect to see a very intense battle in this game, with the Ravens hungry to get in and the Vikings unwilling to let them get in at their expense, right?

Wrong… well, partially I guess.

The Ravens were hungry to get in, but the Vikings were almost not even there last night. The Vikes had pretty much given up on this season (further proof that this IS Randy Moss’ team) and they played some of the most uninspired football I have even seen. I think they were just glad to have the season over with, and frankly, I am glad to see them done as well. Ever since Moss pulled his “I only try when I want to” routine, this team has been on a downward spiral not often seen in this league. The older players lost respect for ex-coach Denny Green when he failed to deal with Moss’ antics, which pretty much sealed Green’s fate as their coach, as well as stuck a gigantic fork in the Vikings hopes of having a successful season.

(Here is a tell-tale stat of how bad things went for the Vikes, they lost to both the Lions and the Panthers this season, and those two teams only won a combined 3 games between them.)

Number 3

OK, those Rams are looking very, very good right now. Very good. The Greatest Show on Turf will have home field though out the playoffs, and that has to have the rest of the league feeling a little uneasy. But, I have said that the Rams are due for a let down (Murphy’s Law 101) and that very let down might just come in the playoffs.

(Uh-oh… look out Rams fans, I have just thrown out some serious bad karma toward you guys…)

But on a more serious note, how luxurious it must be to have two serious MVP candidates on your offense. Warner showed what he can do when healthy for a full season, putting up the 2nd greatest passing yardage season ever and came close to the mighty Marino’s magical number of 5,000.

Now Faulk, all he did was put up 2,000 all-purpose yards for the 4th consecutive season and score 20+ TD’s again, and all of that came in only 14 games. (I know, it’s scary)

Number 2

With the playoffs upon us, here are my concerns for some teams playoff chances:

Miami Dolphins – I think that Jay Fielder’s inconsistent play will kill them early in the playoffs. Fiedler was only 9-16 for 110yds on Sunday, and no matter what Lamar Smith does on the ground, that just isn’t going to cut it.

New England Patriots – Three things concern me here. First is their lack of playoff experience at key positions. Tom Brady is having a great year, but playoff football is a completely different game and he will have to get on a real roll to keep this Pats team in the hunt. Second is the fact that they have the bye. Success is great, and winning the division is huge for them, but I feel that this team just needed to keep things going instead of sitting and waiting another week for someone to come to them. Will they be satisfied with just winning the division? Will rust come into play here? Thirdly is their rush defense. In the playoffs, you have to be able to stop the run in order to win, and the Pats let Richard Huntley (yeah, you read that right) rip them up for 168 on only 22 carries on Sunday. If I were Bill Belichek, I would be concerned about those things, and be looking to address them.

Oakland Raiders – Their defense is playing horribly right now. They should have never lost that game to the Jets and their defense is mainly to blame for it. Also, their offense has not been clicking the past month, and that is an understatement. There has been a lot of talk of fatigue lately with the Raiders having so many aging veterans, and it will take a convincing offensive effort (they don’t even have to win the game) to quell those rumors.

Pittsburgh Steelers – Kordell Stewart has thrown 7INTs in the past two games, and that has to be a real concern for Bill Cowher. Also, they will have a week off, so rust may also come into play. Lastly, and most important I think, is the status of Jerome Bettis. I know he will be healthy by the time they have to play, but having almost 2 months off may hamper his effectiveness. When a player is rusty he loses his focus, when a running back loses his focus, he fumbles, and when a team turns the ball over in the playoffs, they don’t get too far.

Number 1

OK, how about those Niners? I am not going to sound off on what a success this season has been yet (I’ll save that for another column) but I will say that it was nice to see the offense get back on track and rout those pesky Saints 38-0. Jeff Garcia threw for 4TDs, and became the first Niner QB to throw for 30+ TDs in consecutive seasons (not bad, considering the company he is in). I am sooo looking forward to the Green Bay game on Sunday, and although it is going to be played in the always tough Lambeau Field, I think this game has toe potential to be a great one. I am talking “The Catch”, “The Catch II” and SuperBowl XXIII great. I just have a feeling people, and don’t you worry, I will be cheering as loudly as I can some Sunday, and I expect you all to do that same…

Until Next Time…